Lack of Resolve in Tackling Scandals Is Causing Democratic Party to Crumble

This is, what my old editor would call "my weekly bashing on President SBY."

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Lack of Resolve in Tackling Scandals Is Causing Democratic Party to Crumble
Yohanes Sulaiman & Phillip Turnbull | January 30, 2012

'The Democrats' disorganized damage control may cost them more than the loss of public opinion'

Last week, the Democratic Party convened an internal meeting, reportedly focusing on the impending indictment of party chairman Anas Urbaningrum and Sports Minister Andi Mallarangeng by antigraft investigators.

Both Anas and Andi have denied the claims of having benefited from state-funded projects or receiving illegal payments connected with the construction of the athletes’ village for the 2011 Southeast Asian Games.

However, in its usual dissembling manner, the party is sending mixed signals. Democratic lawmaker Max Sopacua said recent discussions at the president’s home with senior party members centered on the possibility of replacing Anas. In other reports, House of Representatives Speaker Marzuki Alie and party secretary general Ramadhan Pohan denied this.

Still, by convening the meeting, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his Democratic officials have finally acknowledged that they are in serious trouble because of allegations of corruption leveled at some it its politicians, including some already on trial, from the now-infamous Muhammad Nazaruddin.

According to the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI), support for the party once the most popular in the country has plunged to 14 percent, significantly below the Golkar Party (18 percent) and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P, 19 percent). Such warnings of the collapse of the public’s support of the party have until now been denied and dismissed by Yudhoyono and his politicians.

Another issue in this fracas now being played out in public to the dismay of Yudhoyono’s administration is whether the Democratic Party, which won a second term of office in 2009 with a promise to clean up corruption, is really that clean. Have members of the party, including its highest members, either turned a blind eye or actively colluded in the bribery process, as alleged by Nazaruddin?

So far, both the Democratic Party and Yudhoyono have tried to bury the indictment. According to press reports, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) is being hampered in efforts to issue arrest warrants for Anas and Andi from within both the Democratic Party and the KPK. The Tribun newspaper even broke the story that Abraham Samad, the head of the KPK, flew into a rage at having been prevented by his co-leaders, Busyro Muqoddas and Bambang Widjojanto, from indicting the Democratic Party pair. This indicates that the KPK has an interest in the two and thinks they have a case to answer.

At the same time, speculation is mounting that there is pressure on Anas to step aside, if not resign, at least while he is under a cloud.

Names are being mentioned as replacements for Anas if he is removed or steps aside; so far Andi, his rival for the position in 2010, is curiously absent from that list.

Common sense indicates that Anas should step aside because it would not only be reasonable, given the infighting surrounding his fate, but politically advantageous to Yudhoyono and his beleaguered party. Anas’s resignation or removal, preferably the former, would be a very public statement that the president and his party are serious about investigating corruption.

As Yudhoyono told anticorruption activists at a meeting at the State Palace last Wednesday, “I can say that no one can escape the law during my term. That is the outcome of my administration’s more aggressive anticorruption efforts.”

The president has acknowledged that his government must be seen to be doing what it promised to do. In this he is backed by Vice President Boediono, who recently spoke on the topic of corruption eradication, saying: “We cannot claim to be successful while the people do not feel the same way. We are successful if people feel satisfied.”

Growing public dissatisfaction with the fight against corruption, dubious political spin and reactive damage control by the Democrats could serve only to shoot them in the foot.

Yet it is difficult for Yudhoyono to reach a conclusion he wants. The stakes are high. If it turns out that Anas dispersed funds inappropriately in his bid for party chairman, it will also implicate those who were willing to receive these funds and vote for him.

The Nazaruddin scandal shows that hell hath no fury like a politician scorned. Political analyst Eep Saefulloh Fatah argued that Yudhoyono’s modus vivendi now was simply to find a safe harbor for his family; should the scandal blow up, it would drag his family down with it because it is widely believed to be a beneficiary of Anas’s largesse — not to mention the mortal damage to the brand of the Democratic Party, the party’s prospects in 2014 and Yudhoyono’s own legacy.

More disturbingly, some commentators have concluded that Yudhoyono, by wavering, has ceded control of his party to Anas.

The chairman was believed to have built a loyal bloc within the Democratic Party, leading to several regional branches voicing support for him, and there are even talks of impending massive demonstration in support of Anas in Jakarta.

It is the lack of resolve that is especially damaging the president and the ruling party because, left untended, the small fire has turned into an inferno.

The public is angry, and the president has acknowledged this. In the present display of the party’s disintegration we are seeing what happens when politicians ignore the elephant in the room and are sluggish to respond.

Slow in grasping what is happening. Slow in thinking it through. Slow in communicating with each other and the public. Slow to decide and slow to act. Slow in pulling people into line. Slow in speaking with a united voice.

Yudhoyono’s dithering and the party’s disorganized damage control may cost them more than the loss of public opinion. Ultimately, time and facts will catch up with them, if they haven’t already.

Red Tape and Company: What a Toll Road Blockade Says About the Economy

The idea for this article came when I was working on completely different short article for the Indonesian navy, on the topic of Indonesian seas as means of unifying the country. It was then when I found out these interesting tidbits, such as the fact that it is much cheaper to ship a container to Singapore than to Padang.

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Red Tape and Company: What a Toll Road Blockade Says About the Economy
Yohanes Sulaiman | January 26, 2012

'Bad policy choices will have a long-term impact on Indonesia’s ability to attract foreign investors.'

Last Thursday, a dispute between a workers union in Bekasi and the Indonesian Employers Association led to the blockade of the Jakarta-Cikampek toll road. The incident is a symptom of deep trouble in the Indonesian economy, arising from bad policy choices by both the central and local governments, the union’s inability to understand the problems faced by Indonesian businesses and entrepreneurs feeling the squeeze of rising costs and overseas competition.

The negotiations between employers association Apindo and the Bekasi Workers in Action (B3) union stalled as both sides accused each other of acting in bad faith. The union argued that Apindo reneged on its promise to withdraw its court challenge to a Bekasi wage regulation, while Apindo declared that it challenged the regulation in the court because the regulation was misguided from the beginning.

Apindo’s complaint is that the Bekasi city government determined the minimum wage simply by averaging the Apindo and the union’s proposed wages, in efforts to woo workers ahead of elections.

While it would of course be great if workers could be paid more than just the minimum wage, the problem is that factories will see profits fall due to higher production costs and increasing international competition.

One of the major components of production costs in Indonesia is transportation. In fact, according to former Finance Minister Fuad Bawazier, it could amount to 30 percent of production costs.

As many who regularly drive between Jakarta and Cikarang can attest to, even without the protests, the traffic is horrible. Trucks with supplies have to line up for hours in order to go past the Cikarang toll gate. After they pass it, they have to navigate narrow, traffic-jammed streets to reach their factory of destination, wasting precious time and fuel in the process.

And even when trucks with goods reach the port of Tanjung Priok, the problems don’t end. The port is both inefficient and backlogged, with a six-day wait before it can process goods, adding to costs.

Not to mention the dreaded red tape. According to data compiled by the World Bank’s Doing Business project in 2011, in Indonesia it took 17 days to clear goods for export and 27 days for import. In contrast, in Singapore it only requires five days to complete export procedures and four days for import.

Not surprisingly, shipping between Indonesia’s many islands is a very expensive venture. The World Bank’s Indonesia Economic Quarterly noted in its June 2011 edition that it would be cheaper to send goods from Jakarta to Singapore than from Jakarta to other ports in Indonesia.

In fact, it costs $600 to send a 20-foot container from Jakarta to Padang, West Sumatra, while it only costs $185 to ship the same container to Singapore.

Due to this very costly transportation system — far exceeding the global average of just 10 percent of total production costs — and not to mention the prevalence of bribery, it should be understandable that factory owners are reluctant to raise wages. This would severely undermine their competitiveness. But predictably, this angers laborers who say that the minimum wage they receive is not enough to cover basic expenses.

Both the central government and the regional government should be blamed for this dysfunctional relationship.

In the case of the central government, its failure to rein in corruption, to improve national infrastructure and to craft a coherent economic policy is making it difficult for factory owners to lower their production costs. And these failures are partly due to corruption.

The 2008 report of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) stated that 30-40 percent of the national budget was stolen each year — and that is added to the usual bureaucratic waste and inefficiency that eat up part of the remaining funds.

Considering the vast size of Indonesia and the already small portion of the national budget spent on infrastructure (10.7 percent in 2011), it is easy to see why transportation in this country remains fraught with difficulties.

While the government is asking the private sector to pick up the slack, misguided populist policies are preventing the private sector from investing in infrastructure.

For instance, the Kompas daily newspaper pointed out in October that in spite of the rising costs of fuel, the government has refused to raise the official transportation fee for cement from Makassar in South Sulawesi to Kendari in Central Sulawesi, even though that fee was set in the mid-1990s .

The private sector, seeing that there is no profit to be made, refuses to be involved and those willing to invest have found that it is becoming harder and harder for them to maintain their fleet faced with such price controls.

All these factors work in tandem to increase the transportation cost in Indonesia and in turn, squeeze businesses’ margins of profit and make it harder for them to accommodate their workers’ demands.

To further exacerbate the situation, regional governments are also often behaving irresponsibly by pushing populist measures of their own. Usually, these are the result of promises made ahead of elections, such as drastic increases in minimum wages.

When unions in the end decide to hit the bricks, regional governments often blame the factory owners, emboldening the union and making it increasingly unlikely for the two sides to reach a compromise solution.

Bad policy choices of this kind will have a long-term impact on Indonesia’s ability to attract foreign investors.

Already, potential investors are spooked by high rates of corruption, massive red tape and uncertainty caused by substandard and the overlapping local and national regulations.

With labor disputes and uncontrolled industrial action now thrown into the mix, it is highly questionable whether the Indonesian economy will remain as strong as Moody’s Investors Service thinks.
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Jason88

9:52am Jan 27, 2012

Excellent analysis. Poor infrastructure is a main threat to stability (economic, social) in this country. Would a new president be able to solve the matter? Is anyone capable and willing and bold enough to get this country on track for a better future? Why can't we have a Lee Kuan Yew type of leader and PAP type of party here - is it a cultural rooted matter we all arranged ourselves to live with incapable, greedy administrations?

Yohanes-Sulaiman

1:28pm Jan 27, 2012

@Jason: Thanks for your comments.



We used to have someone like Lee Kuan Yew: Suharto. The problem, however, is that he failed to create a professional bureaucracy and actually demolished it in order to ensure the longevity of his rule.



I think you can have a strong and effective president in a democratic society. The problem, however, is whether the leadership is competent enough to push for good policies and to actually craft a short term and long term planning, and really follow through the plan, not just throwing the topics depending on the whims.

DrDez

2:50pm Jan 27, 2012

infrastructure, failing education, 40% theft of budget (sic), mob and religious violence, uncertain legal framework, protectionism, ineffectual judicial process, mafia's, gangs, drug syndicates, uncertain wage structure (min wage) a high proportion of the administration facing corruption charges, police violence increasing, media freedoms eroded, mobs running unchallenges, growing radicalism etc...

On the positive we have lots of minerals and a growing middle class oh and a presidential jet

Yohanes-Sulaiman

4:48pm Jan 27, 2012

@DrDez: Don't forget the national treasure, such as the two billion rupiah-toilets, twenty billion rupiah meeting room, and four music albums, composed by our Great Leader.

RuleBritannia

6:32pm Jan 27, 2012

@DrDez - ever considered making an alternative advertisement for Indonesia to run on CNN in the mornings with the official one?? I think you've just about covered the salient points for anyone wishing to come and invest here!

DrDez

8:46pm Jan 27, 2012

Can you imagine how prosperous the whole nation could be if only we could tackle some of these issues? It could be spread and national properity wouold follow. Investment would be incredible and the standard of living of every Indonesian could improve dramatically. SBY had a mandate to change but in my opinion it is worse now than at anytime in the last 43 years

That is what sickens me most I feel.

DrDez

8:49pm Jan 27, 2012

RB - I dont need to. Any investor here should be aware of the risks and if they weigh the returns to be greater than the risk then it will continue.

Our GDP by population growth alone is about 2.5%, last year investment GDP was about 2% leaving about 1.5% actual growth...

Flawed National Security Bill Could Prove a Recipe for Chaos in the Country

I know it has been a while since I updated this blog. Not sure why, probably because I want to allow some time first before reposting old articles.

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Flawed National Security Bill Could Prove a Recipe for Chaos in the Country
Yohanes Sulaiman | January 13, 2012

As the House of Representatives takes aim at 64 priority bills this year, t he national security bill is one of the most important pieces of legislation up for debate. There is no question that passage of the bill is overdue — the legislation aims to fill existing security holes in Indonesia. Notably, those occasions when police forces are incapable of maintaining security, or when the military is unable to provide assistance due to a lack of procedural clarity, as has been the case with recent troubles in Papua and Aceh.

At the same time, the bill in its current form poses many pitfalls and has been subject to no shortage of criticism. The government should move carefully, lest it end up creating more problems than this legislation is supposed to solve.

There are many positive aspects to the bill. In the words of J. Kristiadi, a senior analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, it serves to put the police back in their proper place on issues of national security. In the years since the fall of Suharto, the police force has effectively been given free rein in maintaining domestic order and finds itself on equal footing with the Armed Forces (TNI). The original intent of this arrangement was to bolster the status of the police, which had been hierarchically inferior to the military.

The problem, however, is that because the police force is essentially responsible to no one but the president, many analysts argue that they are out of control, the product of a passive president unwilling to offend powerful law enforcement figures. Many recent incidents, notably the Mesuji and Bima killings, were attributed to police arrogance and the absence of any deterring fear that law enforcement would face meaningful sanctions if they took the use of force too far.

The law would remedy this by putting the police force under the supervision of the yet-to-be-formed National Security Council (DKN), which would be led by a ministerial-level administrator. The law could thus be useful in reining in police excesses, subjecting police conduct to closer scrutiny and placing the entire police force under an active administrator. In other words, this is a polite way to finally put the police under ministerial control, which has long been strongly opposed by an institution unwilling to see its power curbed.

The law could also improve cooperation between police forces and the military in maintaining security in restive areas. While the police force has the responsibility to maintain internal security, in reality it lacks the training and manpower to effectively span the archipelago.

The military has the ability to provide much assistance to the police in this regard, thanks to its strong organization and reach across Indonesia. Yet it is constrained by the 2004 Military Law and international scrutiny, preventing it from actively aiding the police unless requested under the condition of military emergency. Civilian law enforcement has often proved hesitant to ask the military for help, whether from simple pride, a lack of proper guidance on when to do so or due to a fear of being perceived as incompetent or ineffective.

The law will fill this void by establishing and articulating the framework under which all the elements of government can and should work together.

Despite these noble intentions, the bill still has some major flaws. Most important, it adds several layers of bureaucracy in the form of the DKN. The council is intended to address the problem of too much power being held by the police. At the same time, the DKN would have the power to coordinate interactions between military and intelligence units, a power supposedly belonging to the coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs. The overlap in responsibilities is a recipe for a potentially muddled chain of command.

Moreover, the bill also specifies the creation of provincial, district and city-level National Security Coordinating Forums (Forum Koordinasi Keamanan Nasional Daerah) headed by governors, district heads and mayors, respectively. These new bodies would also add layers of bureaucracy and bloat the ranks of civil servants.

At the same time, a question remains: On whose desk does the buck stop when someone messes up? The law specifies the president as having the authority and responsibility to mobilize the elements of the national security apparatus. And right alongside this authority, the bill states that the regional forums should determine the duties, responsibilities and command and control of personnel, depending on the severity of any given situation.

Will the president claim that he or she has the authority and responsibility only to mobilize forces and that his or her duty stops there? Will this absolve the regional heads? Among the military, police force and intelligence apparatus, who will be held accountable, should the situation spiral out of control? With so many layers of bureaucracy piled up, the blame game may prove popular.

Another big problem lies in the allowance for “people” to get involved in “providing national security.” Even though there is a qualification that the involvement should be through “reserve and supporting components,” the law regulating both functions has not been passed yet, with the discussion getting snagged on the question of the “slippery slope” of the military re-establishing its role in society in ways reminiscent to the New Order.

In addition, the wording is vague enough to allow every single militant group to get involved in “providing security,” supplying the legislative rationale for many ambitious people to create their own “security” groups while providing more opportunities and justifications for the existing groups to create more havoc in society due to the “need” to establish security.

While the overall intent of the bill is good — to provide more checks on police power and improve coordination among the police, intelligence units and military — this current draft has many problems that must be addressed. If lawmakers fail to do so, we will simply see further additions to an already bloated government and not long after that, more dysfunction among the actors of the nation’s security apparatus.

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trueblue

2:08pm Jan 13, 2012

@Yohanes

There can be no reason for a reader of this piece to misunderstand the twists of sharing power, and the potential for conflict in the roles of police and the military.
I was interested in your brief comment with respect to the New Order.

With the defiance by the Mayor of Bogor with respect to a Supreme Court order, and the repression of other minority religious groups throughout Indonesia, I suspect there are some who would welcome a return of the disciplines of Suharto. If the police are unable to ensure that minorities are safeguarded, has the "slippery slope" time arrived? From an international perspective that would be an unmitigated disaster, but for the oppressed would it be a welcome relief?

DrDez

3:04pm Jan 13, 2012

Yohanes you have fallen in to the trap of academic correctness I fear!!
The bill whilst good intentioned (sic) is simply a recipe for disaster. Especially for minority groups, ethnic (Papuans/Acehenese for example, religions and more worrying social groups (punks, gays, transexuals etc)

It is nothing more than a hash up aimed at appeasing everybody who can generate a mob or has money, from the Police to the illegal Militia groups (FPI, FUI etc) it lacks clarity and as you point out just adds even more layers of control - thereby further increasing the opportunity for private agendas (political, religious, financial)

The only saving grace is it will take forever to pass and with any luck I will be dead
True - Sadly a call for the good ol days is on a lot of peoples lips right now. If it returned would all be roses? I think not. If anything I suggest it would be a hindrance and some groups would find themselves scapegoats - and it would not be the likes of the FPI

Yohanes-Sulaiman

11:43pm Jan 13, 2012

 Wow, interesting comments.

@Trueblue: To be honest, I am not sure whether returning to the "new order" era is the best idea here. The entire mess is caused because none of the politicians here know how to really connect with people, and thus to show that they have the support from the population, they rely on these thuggish groups such as the FPI and now the FUI courtesy of the Mayor of Bogor.

Another round of Suharto's era would provide a short-term solution but very damaging in a long run because people then will keep relying on a strongman without learning on how to really build a good government. The minority will also rely on the whim of the autocrat, and as we see in the 1990s, when his base in the military was failing, Suharto decided to rally radical Islam.

In essence, the protection of minority will depend on the whim of the autocrats, and I don't think that's a good recipe for a longevity of the nation. People really need to learn to use the ballot box properly.

Yohanes-Sulaiman

11:49pm Jan 13, 2012

@DrDez: I think I have addressed your concerns in the second half of this article, that the problems of this bill is so glaring and this bill will add more problems than it worth.

Still I disagree with your first part. I do see the biggest problems now with the stupid police's policies such as the rounding up of the punks is because the lack of accountability, especially with our "slow action hero" in Cikeas.

Putting them under a ministry while not a perfect solution will help curbing all the abuses. Moreover, the important thing here is providing the framework for the military to step in, should the police create more mess. Thus, making the police think twice before doing stupid things, lest the military believe that they have to step in to clean up the mess.

Fear is always a good incentive to shape up.

shytallnight

7:49pm Jan 14, 2012

Perhaps the title could be changed to read 'recipe for FURTHER chaos in the country'.

trueblue

1:04pm Jan 15, 2012

@Yohanes
Thank you for your reply, and we certainly have some issues to debate!

1. What is wrong with relying on a strongman/woman who is a "politician who connects with the people? Think Reagan, Thatcher, the Singapore dynasty etc., and a raft of others who were the right persons for the right time! Is not this exactly what seems to be needed next time around?

2. How on earth can "people really learn to use the ballot box properly"? It is impossible to form a majority government without forming a coalition, and with the multitude of parties you finish a with a compromising shambles.

3. My conclusion is that with Indonesian complexities nothing less than a strongman/woman is the way forward for equality. The post 1998 Presidential experience really relegated Indonesia the the international embarrassment category. Much was expected of SBY, and let others judge him. The choice of strong candidates is not just an Indonesian problem. Even the U.S. Republicans have a B grade selection!

Yohanes-Sulaiman

6:26am Jan 16, 2012

@shytallnight: blame my editor. I never write a title for my articles. :D (actually JG's editor is doing a heckuva great job in cleaning up/arranging some that I wrote, making them much better -- way more professional than other newspapers.)

@trueblue:

1. Reagan's track record is actually pretty moderate, far less of an ideologue than many nowadays portrayed him to be.

Still, what important here is the rule of law that still sets the limit to what they can do, not the strong people making rules of what people can or cannot do. Thatcher and Reagan, while considered as strong people, are still working within the given parameter. In Indonesia, however, the parameter is still unclear, with rule of law remains weak. This lack of control, while could be good (think of Suharto between 1967-1975 or some would argue, 1988) and his performance post 1988, where he courted the political Islam (including the radicals) and tore apart professionalism within the military. Cont...

Yohanes-Sulaiman

6:33am Jan 16, 2012

... In essence you can't guarantee that a benevolent dictator will keep doing good things and instead could easily end up ruining the country, especially by stunting the development of good civil society and proper institution (the damage still exist today, in term of lack of professionalization everywhere, in education, law enforcement, even the military.) Going "authoritarian" today does not guarantee a good country in 5, 10, or 32 years. In fact, "good" dictators such as Suharto or Pinochet were "outliers," other dictators did worse (e.g. Chavez, Mobutu, Ali Khameini).
2. You need to change how the election is being run to pure district system (that's why virtually all political parties are against district -- because then you will see how shallow their support is -- nobody gonna vote for Marzuki Alie for sure in the next election). You also need time to educate voters on how to do it. It is a hard job, but it has to be done.

3. Strongmen are tempting options, but read above.

Publish or Perish -- the Right Way to Go?

As usual, the full column is behind the paywall, thus I provide it in entirely in this blog. This issue is also kind of amusing because they put wrong photo for this column. This guy does not look like me at all, does he?

Publish or Perish -- the Right Way to Go?

On January 27, 2012, the National Education Ministry's Directorate General of Higher Education announced that candidates for university degrees -- bachelors, masters and doctorate -- will be required to publish in an academic journal.

This policy seems to be based on evidence that Indonesia lags behind its neighboring countries in publishing scholarly articles. Even though Indonesia has five times as many universities as Malaysia, Malaysia is well ahead in terms of scholarly publications, publishing seven times more than Indonesia.

Worse, in the quality of the journal, Indonesia also lags behind. Only nine Indonesian journals can claim to be internationally accredited. Singapore and Malaysia, on the other hand, have 94 and 45 internationally accredited journals, respectively. Therefore, the government feels it must force all graduates to write, otherwise Indonesia will continue to lag behind in scholastic achiements.

Despite this noble intention, this policy is rife with weaknesses that could threaten the integrity of the higher education itself, instead of improving the quality of Indonesian scholarship .

The first consideration is the funding. Journals are not cheap to publish and they have a limited market. Aside from a few professors and libraries, very few people buy academic journals, especially on topics few care about. Not all universities have well-funded, well-stocked libraries.


Not surprisingly, only 18,854 journals are published in Indonesia, and not all of them are published regularly. In fact, only 121 journals are officially accredited. In contrast, Malaysia with a much smaller population base publishes 55,211 scientific journals while Thailand has 58,931.


Secondly, there are too few good journals in Indonesia to handle the predicted onslaught of articles, as there are literally hundreds of thousands of students graduating each year. While this will increase the number of journals published by universities, this will, at the same time, degrade their quality, as in-house publishers will publish in order to ensure their students graduate, regardless the merit of their articles.


Worse, as the existing journals fail to accomodate the number of articles submitted, the entire process will become corruption-prone, as students resort to bribery or connections to get their manuscripts published.

The third factor is who will determine the suitability of the articles for publication. WWhile there are approximately 270,000 lecturers and professors in Indonesia, with about 24,000 of them holding doctorate degrees, not all of them are involved in publishing.

Some don’t even bother to read their students’ papers, as proven by several scandals in which graduates were found to have plagiarized their thesis or submitted plagiarized articles to be published.

Of course, one reason for the professors' laco fo time with their students is because they themselves may be busy with other occupations. The majority of professors and lecturers, however, cannot help but resort to mulstitasking, considering their low official salaries.

In July 2011, during a Supreme Court hearing on a prospective judge, it was revealed that Doctor Dewi Kania Sugiharti, a law professor at Padjajaran University, one of Indonesia's most respected state universities, received a monthly salary of 6.7 million rupiahs, compelling her to take a second occupation, selling furniture from her house in order to pay for her children’s schooling.

Other professors and lecturers, teaching in smaller universities, fare even worse. In October 2011, Kompas revealed that a researcher in Indonesia earns less than an elementary schoolteacher.

With their time limited by their teaching commitments and their second (or third) jobs, professors are unlikely to have additional time to assess the quality of their students' articles.

Fourthly, by controlling the output, this policy is intended to improve the students' scholarship quality. In reality, this fails to address the elephant in the room, that students don't write because they are not trained to write during their elementary and secondary school periods.

The blame here should be placed on Indonesia’s emphasis on the rote system of learning, preventing students from thinking critically outside the box. They are taught to memorize, instead of to think and analyze. Even literature classes focus more on memorizing the names of dead authors, rather than try to understand and critique their works, to broaden the students’ perspectives.

This policy turns students into passive individuals, obeying instructions for fear of making errors that would jeopardize their grades. Yet, writing is a creative, risk-taking process that can expose the authors' fault publicly.

In short, students do not write because they are lazy, but because they are not trained to do so. Not surprisingly, Indonesians have a hard time trying to get published in reputable journals abroad.

Therefore, this band-aid policy, instead of improving the quality of higher education, will only put more pressure on the already strained system. By putting the cart before the horse, this policy implicitly blames the students, the victims of the flawed education system, for making Indonesia looks bad next to other nations.

The government would do better to improve the quality of the teaching profession and fix the flawed K-12 education system. It will not be fixed overnight, but the long term effect will be much greater and much more beneficial than the current misguided policy.

Discarded Sandals, Nascent Democracy

The reason why I first deal with the Arab Spring and put "Syria" in the mix was because I promised a reader that I'd address the killings in Syria in my next article.

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Discarded Sandals, Nascent Democracy
Yohanes Sulaiman | January 06, 2012

Aktivis perlindungan anak Seto Mulyadi (tengah) dalam acara penggalangan sandal jepit di kantor Komisi Perlindungan Anak Indonesia (KPAI) Jakarta, Selasa (3/1). FOTO: INDRA HARDI/RM

This week marks the first anniversary of the death of Mohamed Bouazizi, the Tunisian street vendor whose self-immolation sparked the Arab Spring and led to the downfall of three Middle East dictators, with two more seemingly on their way out.

Yet the long-term effects of the Arab Spring remain unclear due to the lack of strong legal systems in the region. Democracy and minority rights are in a precarious condition in Egypt, for example, thanks in part to the Egyptian military, which uses kangaroo trials and raids to pressure the opposition.

In Syria, counterrevolution attacks by the ruling regime have left more than 6,000 people dead, tens of thousands wounded and many more imprisoned under dubious accusations. In Bahrain, the Shiites continue to criticize the ruling house for its Saudi-backed repressive policies and a rigged judicial system, which has unfairly sentenced many people to long prison sentences.

It is not a pretty picture. Like Georges Danton, a major figure of the French Revolution, said in his own kangaroo trial, “The revolution is like Saturn, devouring all of its children.”

Many analysts have made a strong case that Middle Eastern countries would do well to learn from Indonesia’s successful transition to democracy. Indonesia does have many lessons to teach, such as the successful withdrawal of the military from the political arena and a relatively stable democracy.

Yet Indonesia has also had its own share of judicial troubles that should serve as a warning, not a guide.

As an example, consider the recent “sandal trial” in Central Sulawesi, where a 17-year-old boy was put in the dock for allegedly stealing a pair of sandals from a police officer.

The trial is fascinating for three reasons, the first being that it was even held at all. The supposedly stolen sandals did not fit the accuser’s feet and were the wrong brand, while the police officer said he knew they belonged to him because he had a “spiritual connection” with them. Given these facts, it seems likely that the prosecutor did not examine the details of the case before sending it to court. In other countries, this kind of conduct would trigger an investigation into the prosecutors’ professional conduct and the police officer’s own mental sanity.

In essence, the sandal case reveals the lack of legal depth of Indonesia’s supposed upholders of law. Had this happened in the United States, the district attorney would have refused to take the case, while the police’s legal affairs team would have told the officer he had no case and would likely face a costly public relations nightmare.

The second reason this trial is interesting is because it shows how mob rule is still present in Indonesia. It is very doubtful that the teenager would have been set free had there not been such a public outrage. As we have seen in other high-profile trials — notably, the killing of Ahmadiyah members in Cikeusik, West Java, and the “Ariel Peterporn” scandal — sentences are often determined not by the severity of the misconduct, but the noise of spectators during the trial, or, in many corruption cases, by the power and connections of the defendants.

Because the judicial system lacks independence and integrity, it is no wonder that many trials look like an audition for “Indonesian Idol,” with interested parties bringing along as many supporters as they can and brawls occasionally erupting outside courthouses. Nobody is convinced of the judicial independence of the court systems in Indonesia, and thus people attribute any negative outcomes to the justices being bribed by the winning parties, regardless of a case’s merit.

The third reason the sandal trial was fascinating is because it shows how the idea of shame has not taken root in the bureaucracy. The National Police, facing a public relations disaster, decided to up the ante. Rather than acknowledging the public’s outrage, which was manifested in the donations of sandals, it declared its intention without shame to donate the sandals to the needy. Ironically, many needy people were among those who donated the sandals in the first place.

The Attorney General’s Office, rather than admitting that the trial was stupid, asked the public to “withhold judgment” and focus on the fact that the “five-year sentence” was still a “possibility.” The trial was all a bad show, but the show had to go on because the actors could not admit it was so bad.

At the same time, instead of dismissing the charge, the judges found the defendant guilty but “decided to be lenient,” surrendering to public pressure by releasing him to his parents’ custody. None were willing to admit that the trial had been a waste of time.

Such institutional pride, fueled by egos the size of battleships, does not bode well for the long-term health of the country’s democracy. With such distrust in the legal system, people believe they have to go to the street to demand justice, turning democracy into anarchy.

The remaining Middle Eastern despots are aware of this fear, namely that they are the last bastions of stability in countries where the judicial system is a mess, and it keeps them from being overthrown by a fed-up population.

For the sake of democracy, Indonesia should also take heed. In exposing a rotten system, a pair of sandals could be the straw that breaks the back of a young democracy.

2011 Is Here and Gone, but Eight Stories Will Live On in Indonesia in the New Year

Eight most important stories of 2011. The last choice, I admit, is controversial. Still, I think it helped destroying Marzuki Alie's plan to build a new building and to put a spotlight on many money-wasting activities of the DPR.

A companion article could be found here at the Center for World Conflict and Peace.

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2011 Is Here and Gone, but Eight Stories Will Live On in Indonesia in the New Year
Yohanes Sulaiman | December 30, 2011

The Democratic Party’s former treasurer, Muhammad Nazaruddin, has leveled several accusations at fellow party members during his ongoing corruption trial for alleged bid-rigging. (JG Photo/Afriadi Hikmal)

With the year drawing to a close, here are eight developments in 2011 that will have important implications for Indonesia in 2012.

Troubles in Europe

This will be remembered as an annus horribilis for the European Union. The facade of European unity was finally shattered by its currency crisis. The crisis laid bare the fact that regardless of all the talk about equality among nations, in the end the marching orders were issued from Berlin and Paris — though it took so long that a spooked market ended up exacerbating the crisis.

Even if the EU survives, Europe may face a long recession. That will have an impact on the global economy, especially in China, one of Indonesia’s top trading partners.

Chinese obstacles
While China seems to have been able to weather the economic crisis so far, the deadly high-speed train crash in July and the incompetent handling of the crisis highlighted flaws in an economic model that focus more on exports and infrastructure and less on domestic consumption. The accident brought into question growth that is the result of poorly built, state-driven projects, while also exposing the reality that state-owned companies are prone to corruption.

None of this bodes well for China’s economy in the new year. Its export-oriented economy remains exposed to the global slowdown, with local consumption unable to pick up the slack.

And as China is the biggest consumer of Indonesia’s energy products, any slowdown there will hit Indonesia’s budget hard.

US deadlock
The year 2011 saw the Democrats and the Republicans deadlocked, unable and unwilling to compromise to create a coherent plan to fix the US economy in order to end the recession. Both parties are trapped by their core constituents: the Republicans have to pander to the tax-cutting, budget-slashing Tea Party, while the Democrats are cajoling the spend-to-grow labor union and anarchist Occupy movement, whose demands aside of taxing the rich remain unclear.

Expect to see more partisan sniping and deadlock in the United States in 2012 as the presidential race heats up. The uber-partisanship will further prevent the United States from being a global engine of growth, which could have repercussions for the Indonesian economy, especially if China experiences a slowdown.

Arab Spring
While the long-term effect of the Arab Spring remains unclear, its short-term impacts were spectacular: causing the downfall of dictators in Tunisia, Yemen, Libya and Egypt; threatening the regimes of King Abdullah of Jordan and Bashar al-Assad in Syria and arguably inspiring various protest movements from the Occupy Wall Street in the United States to the anti-Putin campaign in Russia.

In Indonesia, the impact so far has been minimal. Even though Sondang Hutagalung’s action was presumably inspired by Mohamed Bouazizi’s self-immolation act that spurred the Arab Spring in Tunisia, the lack of a compelling narrative to accompany Sondang’s act and the relative prosperity of Indonesians meant his death failed to resonate and gain traction widely. Still, should the global economy remain bad and Indonesia’s economy start to worsen, expect to see more Arab Spring-inspired protests in 2012.

The Nazaruddin show

If economy does not sink President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s popularity, scandals will. While the Bank Century case was too technical with its arcane language of economics and unclear “heroes” and “villains,” and while the Nunun Nurbaeti case was a symbol of the government’s lack of seriousness in tackling corruption, the Muhammad Nazaruddin scandal is a straightforward tell-all scandal that attracted the public’s undivided attention.

It generated enough outrage that it most likely did in the presidential ambitions of Anas Urbaningrum, grievously damaged the Democratic Party’s brand and sent the president’s popularity plunging.

Ahmadiyah and GKI Yasmin

The slap-on-the-wrist punishments for those who attacked Ahmadiyah followers and the government’s effeminate response to the mayor of Bogor’s blatant disregard of the rule of law bring into question Yudhoyono’s commitment to protect religious freedom. At the same time, the central government’s lack of spine has emboldened the country’s religious fanatics. A Catholic church in Bogor is still under siege. Not surprisingly, the human rights watchdog Setara Institute awarded West Java the dubious honor of being the “least tolerant province.”

With both economic downturn and election season on the horizon, expect more incompetent officials and politicians pandering to religious fundamentalists for support.

Police brutality

This year also saw the police using unnecessary and excessive violence against demonstrators that left many dead and injured. The end-of-year mayhem in Bima and recent revelations of brutality in Lampung sent a misguided signal to many people that the police were in cahoots with big industry. Sadly, legitimate industries will have to pay the price through more red tape and more social resistance, which will lead to reduction in capital investment.

The government would be wise to remember that it was police misconduct that led Bouazizi’s self-immolation in Tunisia, not just social inequality or corruption in high places.

Commission VIII

Few people probably remember a trivial and yet important incident that happened in May, when legislative members from Commission VIII on religious and social affairs were grilled by Indonesian students in Australia. The lawmakers’ feeble answers elicited guffaws. While there had previously been criticism of the costs of House members’ international excursions, the incident was the breaking point when Indonesians finally saw the uselessness of such trips. The incident further brought into question the quality of legislative members and made it all the easier to oppose House Speaker Marzuki Alie’s white-elephant project to build an expensive new building for the House.

One hopes that lawmakers will be wiser in the year ahead.

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trueblue

2:54pm Jan 1, 2012

@yohannes.Two brief comments. A few days ago the respected DrDez bemoaned the fact that the Indonesian media had not extensively reported the Arab Spring. You have at every opportunity raised this issue, and have been fearless in the potential domino. Can we have a piece reflecting entirely on this issue? A comprehensive op-ed would be enlightening. With respect to US/China, I would suggest that the US$ reserves now held by China and increasing quarterly by billions is of a greater economic threat than a resources slowdown. North Korea is also a loose cannon.

New year greetings.

DrDez

5:40pm Jan 1, 2012

Trueblue
Yohannes is an excellent commentator on home affairs, and if I feel one of only a few who seem to grasp the issues that threaten our medium term prosperity. The fallout from what will be the Arab winter is yet to be understood and I am yet to see anything that can give an overall picture or direction. My own view is that the Arab nations are screwed and screwed by a mix of Islam and political/military greed.
With respect to China the reality is their own internal debt issue is at least as bad at the US. The US on the other hand do not have to ensure 1 billion mouths are fed to stave of a revolution. The US debt issue is in many ways unimportant - China cannot afford to call them in because the US will just impose an import tax (rather like we do) and the reduction in Chinese purchases would devastate the Chinese economy within months.
2012 ... phew what a year in prospect

Yohanes-Sulaiman

6:22pm Jan 2, 2012

Dear DrDez & Trueblue:

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to both of you and other readers. Thank you for your kind responses and my apology for unable to reply until today due to my internet-free vacation (yeah, I cheated as I twitted).

Actually, I have discussed a bit about the implication of the Arab Spring, though not in this revered publication, but in my friend's blog (Center for World Conflict and Peace). Still, I am kinda tempted to write an anniversary piece on Arab Spring, especially its implication on Indonesia -- why it failed to catch fire here, regardless the fact that back in March (I believe) even Sultan Hamengkubuwono X had raised the threat of Arab Spring in Indonesia and the Sondang's incident, as I mentioned in this piece, also failed to catch the imagination.

I will look at it. Maybe I should make it this week's topic, as I am still groggy from vacation and my mind is currently blank thus too lazy to think of new topic.

Yohanes-Sulaiman

6:28pm Jan 2, 2012

One more thing about US-China: it is interesting that very few people actually realize that China dug a deep hole by getting US debt. You see, logically, when you keep exporting goods and others keep importing it, sooner or later, your currency should be stronger and others' get weaker. Yet, China tried to negate this by buying US debt, and thus making US$ unable to depreciate that would make China's export to be expensive. At the same time, as China's currency was artificially depressed, the Chinese population was, to some degree, subsidizing the US' imports, thus China was taxing its own people, and depressing the local demands (and thus local consumption).

Of course, as the international economy is going kaput and Chinese consumers unable to pick the slack due to this "involuntary tax," then China is put in a major bind, that its economy is dependent on the US.

Thus, this year will be a very interesting year for Chinese economy. I'd advise to pull out from Yuan.

DrDez

5:36am Jan 3, 2012

Yohanes
Happy New Year to you & your family - may it be filled with peace for us all. May our authorities start accepting their responsibilities & apply the law equally. May the silent majority remove their head from the sand.
Re China - huge internal debt is also a major challenge. As % of GDP it is suggested that they have more debt than the US..Al J last year
If you do write an Arab Spring article here I would implore you to look at the situation in Syria. It seems to be the forgotten conflict and yet there are an estimated 16000 political prisoners and maybe as many as 10,000 dead and 40,000 wounded.** The Arab League are simply embarrassing as are the Muslim Groups (cannot blame the West so they are silent). It is open conflict and will I fear spread. Iran is using Assad for sure to create mass instability. I am certain they actually want a war & the consequence would be global.
**outcry when an Israeli shoots a Palestinian burglar. Silence when Assad kills 10,000... :) amazing

Tulisan lama juga di Kompasiana. Tak ada komentar soal nasib Briptu Norman saat ini, karena penulis tak peduli dengan lagu-lagu pop.

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Pelajaran dari Briptu Norman

OPINI | 17 April 2011 | 17:48 110 0 Nihil

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Komik Sukribo yang diterbitkan Kompas hari ini seperti biasa menyentil para pembesar negeri ini yang hobbynya menebar pesona, bahwa seorang “hansip” kok popularitas lagunya bisa mengalahkan para pembesar negeri ini yang terus menggunakan berbagai kesempatan untuk membagikan CD musik yang dikarang dan dinyanyikan langsung oleh mereka.

Padahal, bukan hanya para pembesar saja yang mempromosikan keindahan suara mereka saja. Para bawahannya pun ikut-ikutan, begitu terhipnotisnya mereka dengan impian kenaikan pangkat, posisi dalan tim sukses, dan harta berlimpah, sampai ada yang menaruh salah satu lagu ciptaan para pembesar sebagai sebuah pertanyaan dalam ujian pegawai negeri dalam kategori “pengetahuan umum.”

Entahlah apa ide tersebut membuatnya menerima pujian atau kenaikan pangkat, karena soal “pengetahuan umum” itu diprotes, dan lebih memalukan lagi, hampir semua kandidat dan masyarakat luas tak tahu judul lagu tersebut.

Sementara itu, seorang briptu penjaga pos secara spontan, tanpa menggunakan acara mewah dan megah, bernyanyi sebuah lagu India untuk menghibur rekannya. Tanpa diketahuinya, rekaman tindakan spontan itu disebarkan melalui YouTube. Dalam kurang dari satu hari, kelihatannya seluruh Indonesia langsung mengenal siapa Briptu Norman dan begitu besarnya antusiasme masyarakat sampai para petinggi Polri pun melakukan balik kanan dan mundur dari reaksi otomatis mereka yang hendak menghukum sang briptu - walau penulis curiga, hukuman itu hendak dilakukan bukan karena Briptu Norman melanggar tata tertib, tapi karena popularitasnya dengan telak mengalahkan jutaan CD yang sudah disebarkan oleh para petinggi masyarakat tersebut.

Penulis bukanlah Simon Cowel dari American Idol atau ahli kritik musik. Penulis sendiri tak menyukai lagu-lagu India dan mungkin satu-satunya orang Indonesia yang tak pernah melihat langsung nyanyian Briptu Norman di YouTube itu dan kalau tak terpaksa melihat di televisi pun, sampai sekarang rasanya tidak akan pernah mendengar nyanyian Briptu Norman. Jadi penulis tak akan mencoba melakukan kritik lagu.

Tapi penulis mencoba menganalisa sebuah fenomena yang menarik: mengapa seorang Briptu rendahan mampu mengguncang dunia musik Indonesia, sedangkan ribuan petinggi dengan bintang, pangkat, dan gelar yang bertebaran dari doktor, doktor honoris clausa sampai yang beli gelar doktor pun tak mampu memikat imajinasi publik, padahal mereka dengan antusias bernyanyi dan menyebarkan CD-CD mereka dalam acara-acara seminar, saresehan, pesta peluncuran buku, sampai pesta permakaman.

Ada dua jawaban. Jawaban pertama adalah spontanitas.

Masyarakat banyak bisa mengerti sebuah tindakan spontanitas seorang anggota masyarakat kelas bawah dari hati, tanpa ada embel-embel lainnya. Masyarakat bisa mengindetifikasikan diri mereka kepada tindakan seorang yang benar-benar mencoba menghibur teman-temannya, bukan karena untuk mengejar pangkat dan menyombongkan keahliannya, namun sebagai aksi solidaritas dalam situasi yang sulit.

Ia melakukan sesuatu yang dilakukan setiap hari oleh setiap orang di posisi manapun. Secara kebetulan, tindakannya direkam dan di-upload ke sebuah media yang egaliter, sebuah media yang siapapun bisa berkontribusi dan menonton hasil upload orang-orang lain.

Mungkin sebetulnya kualitas suara Briptu Norman kalah oleh para pembesar yang menghabiskan waktu berjam-jam mengarang lagu, melatih diri di tempat-tempat karaoke atau sampai sengaja mendatangkan guru-guru les privat.

Namun, mereka bernyanyi di dunianya sendiri, yang membayangkan bahwa rakyat menginginkan mereka berkantor di gedung super mewah dan super mahal yang dipenuhi kolam renang, spa, tempat-tempat pijat, kantor-kantor super deluxe tempat mereka menonton film-film porno, dan ada toko-toko yang kalau anda tanya harga barang yang dijualnya, berarti anda tidak akan mampu membelinya.

Mereka bernyanyi di acara-acara yang membutuhkan biaya wah untuk masuk, dengan koreografer yang super hebat, ahlinya datang langsung dari Amerika nun jauh sana, dengan band yang sangat pro dan mahal, dan dihadiri oleh tamu-tamu yang jumlah total biaya pakaian dan perhiasannya mampu memberi makan seluruh Indonesia selama seminggu.

Sedangkan, rakyat melihat Briptu Norman bernyanyi di sebuah pos jaga yang sederhana didampingi temannya saja, tanpa embel-embel apapun, tanpa adanya pameran kemewahan dan kekuasaan.

Itulah jawaban yang kedua dan yang terpenting. Briptu Norman melakukan sesuatu yang semua orang mengerti: ia mengekspresikan perasaan secara spontan di dunia milik rakyat. Para pejabat itu tidak.